THE NATION: The Right to Know

Were the congressional investigations of
Communism in government just a political red herring? Harry Truman said
they werein an anomalous use of a cliché much fancied by Communists.
Republicans scoffed that the President's accusation was
just a political dodge to get his party off an uncomfortable
election-year spot. Of course it was a fact that both parties were
playing election-year politics.

But the real issues of the investigations went far beyond partisanship.
Were the innocent being smeared along with the guilty? It was a cry
that had gone up during almost every congressional investigation. It
had sounded with particular force...